4 Fights We Need to See After UFC Fight Night: Bautista vs. Oliveira

Mario Bautista might not be the biggest name in the bantamweight division, but he's definitely a contender.

The 32-year-old returned to action in the main event of the UFC's first Fight Night card of 2026, taking on fellow contender Vinicius Oliveira on Saturday night in Las Vegas. He won the fight in style, submitting his opponent with a rear-naked choke in round two.

It wasn't the biggest win of Bautista's career—he already held a decision win over Jose Aldo—but it was certainly one of the most dominant, and it cemented his status as one of his division's top dogs.

Saturday's co-main event was arguably even more important than the headliner, as former Rizin champ Kyoji Horiguchi took on Amir Albazi in a clash of ranked flyweights. Horiguchi, who is now in his second run with the UFC, won the fight by unanimous decision to assert himself as one of the top contenders in his weight class.

Outside the top two fights, Saturday's biggest winner was Russian heavyweight Rizvan Kuniev, who scored a decision win over Jailton Almeida. The Russian's win will completely change the heavyweight rankings, as he was unranked heading into the matchup, and his Brazilian opponent held the division's No. 6 spot.

Middleweight veteran Michał Oleksiejczuk also impressed on the card, scoring a $100,000 Fight of the Night bonus after defeating Marc-Andre Barriault by decision.

Without further ado, here are the fights we'd like to see next for Bautista, Horiguchi, Kuniev, and Oleksiejczuk.

Mario Bautista vs. Song Yadong

Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

To say Mario Bautista needed an impressive win over Vinicius Oliveira would be a bit of an understatement.

The rising bantamweight contender entered the Octagon with an impressive 8-2 UFC record, but suffered a lopsided decision to Umar Nurmagomedov in his last fight. He had also developed a bit of a reputation for boring bouts, having failed to stop any of his recent opponents.

By submitting Oliveira in round two, he both rebounded from his loss to Nurmagomedov, and reminded the world that he is fully capable of winning inside the distance when he puts his mind to it.

Now back in the win column, Bautista is one of the top contenders in the bantamweight division—certainly the top contender who has yet to fight for the division's title. A title opportunity still won't be next, but another impressive victory over a top fighter could change that.

Our pick for his next opponent is China's Song Yadong. Song has been hovering around title contention for years, but has yet to get the chance, thanks to a handful of ill-timed losses—including a decision defeat to Sean O'Malley in his last fight.

While it looks increasingly like Song is just a bit short of the skill required to be a UFC champion, he's proven many times that he's one of the best bantamweights on the roster. He would be the toughest test of Bautista's career, with vicious punching power and a good ground game to fall back on.

Match the pair up on a pay-per-view main card to see where they both belong in 2026.

Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Joshua Van

Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

There are now four fighters who arguably deserve a crack at UFC flyweight champion Joshua Van.

The first of those fighters is former champ Alexandre Pantoja, who lost the title to Van after suffering a flukey arm injury just seconds into his December title fight with Van. The next two are Manel Kape and Tatsuro Taira, both of whom are on impressive win-streaks against top competition. The last is Kyoji Horiguchi, who beat Amir Albazi in Saturday's main event.

It might be a bit of a hot take, but Horiguchi should be next.

While Pantoja deserves the opportunity most of all given the dubious circumstances of his title loss, he's still recovering from his arm injury and won't be available for some time, so we can rule him out. That leaves Kape and Taira, and Horiguchi, and the latter should definitely be up next.

Horiguchi's first run in the UFC was incredibly successful, as his only loss came in a title fight to flyweight GOAT Demetrious Johnson. After leaving the UFC of his own volition, he then won titles in Bellator and Rizin—where he actually beat Kape—before finally returning to the promotion last year. He's now 2-0 in his second run in the Octagon.

Horiguchi has accomplished far more in the sport than Kape or Taira has—in fact, he's arguably one of the best fighters ever in the lower weight classes. He's also a bigger name than either fighter, and is certainly more reliable than Kape, who unfortunately bails on half the fights he's booked for. Lastly, he is already 35 years old, which means time is of the essence if he's going to get another crack at UFC gold.

Kape and Taira are both deserving contenders, but it only makes sense to give Horiguchi the next crack at Van, and have the other two duke it out for the No. 1 contender spot in the meantime. They've got time. He doesn't.

Rizvan Kuniev vs. Sergei Pavlovich

Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Rizvan Kuniev has had a bizarre UFC career so far.

The Russian made his UFC debut last year, and was welcomed to the Octagon by top-5 contender Curtis Blaydes, who was fresh out of a title fight with Tom Aspinall at the time.

It was a wild bit of matchmaking, and Kuniev ended up losing by split decision, but he performed very well against Blaydes, despite being far less experienced on the big stage.

After impressing against Blaydes, the newcomer was booked for a fight with former light heavyweight Ryan Spann. That was a far more typical matchup for somebody just two fights into their UFC career, but it didn't end up happening. Instead, Spann pulled out with an injury, and was replaced by No. 6 contender Jailton Almeida.

Remarkably, Kuniev ended up beating an uninspired-looking Almeida by unanimous decision. The win will completely transform the heavyweight rankings, as Kuniev wasn't even ranked heading into the fight.

After his unusual but impressive two-fight run against two of the top heavyweights in the UFC, Kuniev can expect another big name next time out. Our pick would be his fellow Russian Sergei Pavlovich.

Pavlovich, a former interim title challenger, recently suffered back-to-back losses to Tom Aspinall and Alexander Volkov, but has since rebounded with decision wins over Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Waldo Cortes-Acosta. Those wins weren't enough to put him back in title contention, but they proved he's still elite.

As arguably the hardest puncher in the division, he would make a very tough test for Kuniev. If Kuniev wins, he'll be firmly in title contention—not bad for a guy just three fights into his UFC career.

Michał Oleksiejczuk vs. Edmen Shahbazyan

Poland's Michał Oleksiejczuk may never fight for UFC gold, but he's a very talented fighter, and a very reliable source of entertainment. He proved both those things again on Saturday, when he out-scrapped durable Canadian Marc-Andre Barriault in a Fight of the Night-winning slugfest.

A former light heavyweight, Oleksiejczuk has been somewhat inconsistent since dropping down to middleweight, but is now riding three straight wins. That is definitely the recipe for a slight step up in competition—even if it feels inevitable that he will stumble against higher-level opposition.

How about a fight with Edmen Shahbazyan?

Shahbazyan was once one of the fastest-rising contenders in the middleweight division, and was seen as a future opponent for Israel Adesanya, who held the belt at the time. Unfortunately, it quickly became clear that he was very weak on the ground, as he was defeated by several grapplers in succession.

While it seems unlikely Shahbazyan will ever regain the reputation he once had, he has quietly put together three straight wins, and like Oleksiejczuk, is ready for a bit of a bump up in competition. It only makes sense to pit them against each other. It's a very exciting matchup on paper, and the winner would have a strong argument for a fight with somebody just inside the middleweight top-15.